You've played Madden to death. NHL has bored you to tears. FIFA is great but not suited to your tastes. What's an EA Sports fan to do now? Keep playing Madden. EA's NBA effort on the PS2 falls flat on its face and is actually worse than it's PS One counterpart.

Everyone wondered how NBA Live would translate to the PS2 as most people only got a look of the game through the preliminary screens of Garnett and Duncan. To let everyone know, they don't look a whole lot like those screens. While the faces have been touched upon, the rest of the player is simply a slightly more detailed version of the PS1 game. The frame-rate is of course better, as is the animation, but the look of the sidelines and the crowd is inexcusable.

The gameplay is exactly like the PS1 version and the control scheme is EXACTLY the same. A few new animation routines may make it seem like new moves are present, but these are no more effective than any others. The only upgrade to the game is the low-post game which doesn't add enough to call this an improvement worthy of the PS2.

The main question here is not the lack of super-detailed graphics, or even upgraded gameplay. The thing that boggles the mind is the deletion of key items that have been included past few years of the NBA Live series. No 3-point shootout, no franchise mode, and a worthless create-a-player mode make the game almost not worth the disc is pressed on. Why would the create-a-player mode be included when you can't even adjust the height of your player? The only decent addition to the game is the soundtrack featuring Montell Jordan which is catchy at first, but repeated sessions will make most people wish he'd just shut up already.

This is by far the most dissaponting PS2 game to date. Not the worst mind you, as it's light years ahead of NCAA (and more than likely Shootout too), but it could've been so much more. Maybe next year's version will fix the myriad of flaws contained in this game, but until then, just wait for Triple Play and hope that turns out okay.